Photographs of Brooklyn

Brooklyn As I Remember by Lucille Fornasieri-Gold

I am a street photographer fascinated by America's folk culture. America does not have a classical background; it is a convergence of diverse cultures and customs from different times and places. When these cultures come together they mix to form a conglomerate, transnational taste. I document this ever-evolving ethos and the richness of its interactions. The common thread among these diverse groups is that they all seem to grab on to the idea of democracy, the freedom to do and say as they please.

I'm 74 and have lived most of my life in New York. What I've seen from decade to decade is a massive opening of society. My experience of this is one of infinite possibility. There is always a movement, a gesture, an interesting or bizarre juxtaposition, a color or combination of colors that create a renewed impulse to see. I engage the social and moral questions, but I don't try to answer them. Ultimately there are no answers. When I'm photographing I feel the weight of the antecedents, the spirals of time, the evolution of thought and science.

Born in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, Lucille Fornasieri-Gold was first exposed to art through her father, a professor of architectural sculpture. She attended Hunter College and the Art Student League and later lived in Europe for three years. With the birth of her last child in 1969, she received her first camera and took pictures intensely for a ten-year period. In 2002 she retired to work only on her photography. She shoots frequently, and processes her negatives digitally.

The photographs in this exhibition were taken with a 35mm camera and are digital prints.

The Fragile City by Philippe Dollo

This long-term project presents the results of a confrontation with the American myth as perceived by a European whose attraction towards the spirit and culture of this country dates back to his childhood and adolescence. The myth was bound to confront reality when I settled in New York in 1997 as a freelance photographer. The initial dream has persisted through my actual experience.

These pictures evoke fleeting encounters, stares, moments in which tenderness alternates with the bizarre and innocuous routines suddenly plunge into a parallel dimension. In this very real, yet at times nightmarish urban dream, man encounters his eternal companion: solitude.

Born in Paris in 1965 and freelance photographer since 1990, Philippe Dollo has been the New York correspondent for Opale, the leading French agency for portraits of authors. While traveling through the world on assignments and photo journeys, he has been working on The Fragile City and a vision of the American way of life through weddings. Dollo's work has been widely published and exhibited and forms part of the collection of the International Museum of Photography in Rochester, NY. His first book, a project on Roosevelt Island with French author Frédéric-Yves Jeannet, was published in March 2005.